Quenching a man thirst
by sateda
Summary: Based on Episode 4 season 2. Arya gives Jaqen H'ghar a drink.


**Tiny bit of information from the books but based on the TV Series and a little creativity since it isn't explained how Jaqen ended up being in King Landing**

Not for the first time that morning Arya Stark couldn't help but look again towards the cage that held the three male prisoners, focusing mainly on the man that had spoken kindly to her. Jaqen H'ghar. He had long red hair with white streaks interspaced throughout it on the left side of his head, and unlike the other two men in the cage with him, the young Stark girl could fairly say that he was quite good looking.

Arya watched him as she filled a bucket full of water from the stream nearby for her and the others. He sat against the bars of the cage his head lopsided as he stared out of his prison, a bored expression plastered across his face. One of his companions, the one who had threatened her, lay asleep while the other was facing away from her on Jaqen's right side. Awake, or asleep, Arya couldn't tell.

As Arya stood up with the full bucket of water, her gaze wandered down to the tankard that was lying on its side by Jaqen's feet and then back up at the man. She had seen that no one, not even Yoren, had given him, or the other two prisoners anything to drink, and it was highly likely that they didn't deserve any either. How the other two had treated her was prove of that.

Jaqen though... Arya furrowed her brow as she looked away from him, making her way back over to Gendry, thinking. Syrio Forel, her dancing master, who had thought her how to wield a sword, and to fight, before being slain by the Lannister's men, had also thought her that her enemies would search for weaknesses, like an opening for the blade of a sword to pierce. Was that what Jaqen was doing? Was he truly being kind to her, or was it all an act to play on her sympathies to have her get him a drink? He was a complete stranger to her. For all she knew he could even be as bad as those other men.

Arya came out of her thoughts as she arrived back, placing the water down, and when she stood back up to her full height and she only noticed then that Gendry had his cock out, taking a piss against a tree a few feet away from her. The young Stark made a face but dismissed it at once and turned her head away from the boy that she had sort of bonded with. She wasn't particularly grossed out seeing his manhood, or relieving himself, mainly because she had seen a lot of the boys doing the same and they would have found it quite odd if _a boy_ was disgusted seeing another cock out, so for the sake of her identity she dealt with looking at them, when she had too, whenever she was around a lot of boys, and when there wasn't she had the curtsey to look away.

As she kept her eyes away from the older boy her eyes fell on the jug that they used and her mind drifted again back to Jaqen. Eventually Arya sighed and made her way over it and picked it up. After she had dipped the jug into the bucket of water she made her way over to the cage. Jaqen _had_ after all asked nicely.

As she approached, she saw Jaqen turn his head towards her, and his once bored face vanished slightly, a small smile forming around the lips of his mouth. The man she had hit was letting out soft snores as he rested and the other appeared tobe truly sleeping as well.

"The brave boy returns," Jaqen said to her, his voice soft, a hint of amusement audible. His eyes were on her and not on the jug in her hand. He hadn't even made a move for the tankard.

"With your drink," she told him. Jaqen nodded and stooped down, picking up the tankard and put his arm out through the bars. Arya paused as she was about to step forward, taking note of the other hand on the bar of the cage, then back at him judging how far the arm was out of the cage. He would be able to reach for her if she stepped in. Jaqen however, seemed to read her thoughts.

"A boy is wary," he said, an eyebrow arching slightly, "That a man can understand. Do not fret. A man means you no harm."

Arya wasn't taking any chances, not even his word. "Reach out as far as you can," she told him. "And put your other arm behind your back," she added quickly.

Jaqen's smile widened slightly, curving on the left side of his face. "A man will do what he must," he said, and did as Arya asked, putting his right arm behind his back and reaching out with the tankard in his left as far he could go. Only when Arya was certain that his arm would go no further did she pour the liquid into the tankard, filling it up three-quarter way. Once she had taken the jug away from the tankard Jaqen pulled it back into the cage and Arya watched him as he raised it to his mouth and closed his eyes as he drank, gulping the water down. Once he had taken the tankard away he let out a sigh and opened his eyes again and looked at the girl who was pretending to be a boy. "This man thanks you, Arry," he said to her humbly, nodding his head graciously.

Arya was somewhat touched by his courtesy but downed it. _He's in that cage for a reason, just like those other two_, she told herself.

"What did you do to get stuck inside a cage?" she asked him.

Jaqen set the empty tankard down beside him. "This man had done a deed for another and was betrayed, caught by the people he had given an oath to kill, and so was condemned to live out the rest of his life in the black cells of Kings Landing."

Arya had heard of the black cells during her stay at Kings Landing. They were well known for where the worst of all criminals were kept.

"Would a boy be so kind to give a man another?" Jaqen then asked, nodding towards the jug in her hand. Arya did so, when Jaqen repeated what she had instructed earlier.

"Who was the man that betrayed you?" she asked him, when she pulled the jug up, and Jaqen pulled the tankard back in. "Who was it that you were going to kill?" she added.

"This a man cannot say," he replied to her.

Arya frowned, chastising herself for not asking her question before giving him the water. "Why not?" she asked, her voice somewhat terse, as Jaqen downed the liquid, annoyed that he wouldn't answer.

Jaqen took the tankard away from his mouth. "A man has secrets, as do we all lovely boy," he said to her.

A cold chill ran down Arya's spine that had nothing to do with the soft autumn breeze. It was the way he said it that made her feel uneasy, especially as another light smile formed across his mouth. Could he see through her disguise? No, he couldn't!

"I've to go," she told him and turned around and walked back over to the others, though she couldn't help but look back over her shoulder at the man and she saw that he was staring after her, still smiling.

**Hope you enjoyed this short story**


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